Branding effort under way for rocky ford melons: new growers' association seeks to assure safety in wake of deadly listeria spread.

• Author: Best, Allen
• Position: AGRICULTURE

INSTEAD OF A BLAND TIGER OR A ho-hum Nustang, Rocky Ford High School is home to the Meloneers, a nod to the area's production of watermelons, pumpkins and cantaloupes. Especially cantaloupes.

Rocky Ford cantaloupes are among Colorado's hest-known brands. A Colorado Department Of Agriculture survey last spring liquid that 80 percent of Colorado shoppers between ages 25 and 65 were aware of Rocky Ford cantaloupes. Sweetness and flavor of the gourds is enhanced by greater intensity of sunlight at Rocky Ford, 4,200 feet in elevation, relative to other cantaloupe-growing regions. Diurnal temperature swings also enhance sweetness. Daytime temperatures routinely climb above 100, dropping 30 to 'In degrees at night. And it rains little, providing a less fertile environment for pathogens. Instead, water is carefully delivered to the cantaloupes by drip irrigation.

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But cantaloupe growers had greater problems than rainy days in 2011. Doctors in August had diagnosed cases of' listeriosis, a comparatively rare bacterial disease that has a morality rate of about 20 percent. On Sept. 8, the Colorado Department oh Public Health and Environment announced that cantaloupes were "very likely" the source of the listeria. Days later, state officials advised people in high-risk groups against eating cantaloupes Crum the "Rocky Ford growing region."

Sleep came fitfully to Michael Hirakata. He and his cousin, Glenn, are partners in one of Rocky Ford's largest cantaloupe growing operations. Their great-grand-lather, Tatsunosuke Hirakata, arrived in the Arkansas Valley after working on the railroad. Trains delivered cantaloupes to Eastern markets at first, but in 1972. Michael's fin her established a relationship with King Soopers, the grocery chain. Never had 'here been any problems with food-borne illnesses.

Everything in Hirakata's had revolved around cantaloupes. Now, it was all OH the line. The phone rang, but Hirakaut had no answers. He had never even heard of listeria, the bacteria found in soils. For all he knew, his cantaloupes were the source. "I'd go to sleep at 9 and wake up at 10," he says. "I'd think and pray and think."

In time, 33 people died of listeriosis. Altogether, 174 people suffered documented illnesses in 28 states. It was the most deadly food-borne outbreak in at least a quarter century. But the cantaloupe had not come from Rocky Ford. Health officials instead traced the listeria to Jensen Farms, located at Granada...